Ride the Wave by Avida

By: Malcolm Street, Photography by: Malcolm Street

Date: 13.07.2017

Easy to manoeuvre van with all essential features. Stay tuned for the full review next month!

Earlier this year, Avida produced a surprise by unveiling its Wave range of electric pop-top caravans. When most people think about pop-top vans, they also think about the hassle of the process which, apart from a few notable exceptions, involves lifting the pop-top roof by undoing the corner clips and exerting a bit of muscle on the lift mechanism, sometimes by clambering on the bed!. But not so with the Wave. Lifting the roof involves nothing more than the press of an electric button.

There are several models in the Wave range but, for this review, we chose the smallest, the PT5542, which comes with both an island bed and a full-width rear bathroom.

The Wave clocks in with a Tare of 1838kg and an ATM of 2300kg, giving it a very respectable payload of 462kg – often tandem-axle vans are less than that.

One of the benefits of having a shorter van when negotiating bush tracks is that they are much easier to manoeuvre around and I did, on one instance, find it necessary to turn my rig around in a fairly small area, something I accomplished without too much stress thanks to the Wave's small stature.

Despite being 5.57m/18ft 3in long and a pop-top, with a lift of 0.5m (1ft 8in), the Wave does manage to include all the features found in a large van, including a full-sized bathroom.

A relatively small van equals a relatively small kitchen. However, it's large enough to have all the essentials, like the four-burner cooker and grill, stainless steel sink and drainer, 150L fridge and Camec microwave oven.

Stay tuned for the full review coming next month in Caravan World #566. Subscribe today for the latest caravan reviews and news every month!